Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.

The topic of “lunch shaming” has gathered lots of interest on social media. I’m particularly interested since I sit on my local school board. A quick recap: the feds fund lunches for families who qualify (just over half of our families with a total student population of just over 1,300 kids, K-12). The rest of the parents can send a lunch or put money into an account with the cafeteria service. An important thing to note is that kids in the lunch line can’t tell if someone else is getting a free meal or not.

Some other factors: if the free meal population reaches a high enough threshold, the school can provide all meals for free at federal expense. During the summer, the feds fund free meals for entire families. This is a program of which I suspect most people are completely unaware.

Known to students at the University of Chicago and NYU law schools as “the libertarian,” Richard Epstein has established himself as an expert in constitutional law, contracts, corporate law, real estate law, torts, labor law—and even Roman law. He is reputed to be more knowledgeable about Justinian’s Code than anyone since the Emperor Justinian himself. The Peter and Kirsten Bedford senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Richard Epstein is the author of several books including, The Cas… [more]

George Packer’s recent jeremiad in The Atlantic offers an object lesson on the disarray of modern progressive thought. Packer’s essay, about K-12 education in New York City, rails against two enemies: “a brutal meritocracy and a radical new progressivism,” which, he argues, are ripping apart the social fabric of New York City. His exhaustive lament, detailing his and his wife’s desperate effort to navigate a broken system for their two children, lacks any systematic analysis of the institutional forces driving the problems he identifies. He also never questions his deep faith in an enlightened social welfare state.

He begins the essay pointing to the painful experience of parents who spent a cold February night in sleeping bags outside the schoolhouse door in order to obtain places for their children in a desirable public preschool whose slots are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Packer attributes this extreme behavior to the “organized pathologies of adults” who have surrendered to the brutal meritocracy.

The real name of the Reticulator is John Gorentz. He lives near Battle Creek, Michigan USA. His life story, in reverse chronological order, begins as follows: “His days ended in one of Hillary’s internment camps.” The Reticulator is also known as The Spokesrider

Tuesday’s bike ride was a 50-miler(*) from Sidney to North Lewisburg, Ohio. It was my closest ever approach to Columbus from the west, by any means of transportation. Along the way, I took photos at four township halls.

I had hoped one of them might be a picturesque old schoolhouse. There are some like that in Ohio and other parts of the Old Northwest. But today’s were all pole barns, broadly defined. These are usually less interesting, but one of the sites did have some traces of the old connection between township government and schools, from the days before school districts became independent of local governments, for better or worse.

Hello. My Ricochet name, sawatdeeka, is a Thai greeting that women use. Men would say, "sawatdeekap." So, sawatdeeka. Here are some bio basics:
-I've been a wife for half my life, and we're parents of two teenage daughters.
-I work in education, mainly from home doing mostly curriculum and instruction for a small Christian school in California (title: accreditation coordinator).
-I taught humanities to junior high and some high school from about '97 to '99, before I had my daughters.
… [more]

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are not all surprised by President Trump firing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson given their distant relationship and they hope Mike Pompeo can be effective as America’s top diplomat. They also unload on Hillary Clinton after her ugly overseas explanations that Trump won the red states by appealing to people who don’t want blacks to have rights or women to have jobs and that white married women backed Trump because they did what their husbands or bosses told them to do. And they slam liberal school administrators for actively supporting Wednesday’s National School Walkout to push for gun control.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve felt ill-at-ease about the shootings at Parkland in a way that went far beyond the deaths and desperation that has followed the episode. I finally put my finger on my perceptions. And it raised great concern for me. Let me summarize first what has been happening nationwide regarding the shootings, students, and protests.

Students are obviously in great emotional pain and are motivated to take action following the traumatic experience of the shootings. They have come together for a primary cause. They have made the National Rifle Association their primary focus/scapegoat, and secondarily the legislature. They are saying to everyone that you are either anti-gun or against their teens. Companies have boycotted the NRA. Those who didn’t support the calls for new legislation are the enemy. Hundreds of students and adults all over the country have organized protests. Millions of dollars have been donated to their cause, including GoFundMe sites, many of which are for the survivors and their families; included with the donors are Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, and his wife.

The United States has always taken pride in its ability to assimilate its new immigrants, creating an exciting and diverse fabric for the American ethos. Lately, though, there has been much discussion about the unwillingness of immigrants, legal or not, to assimilate into this country. I began to think about the meaning of assimilating, what it used to define and what has changed. It became clear to me that this is an issue that must be addressed and that may be even more serious than immigration problems themselves.

Hello. My Ricochet name, sawatdeeka, is a Thai greeting that women use. Men would say, "sawatdeekap." So, sawatdeeka. Here are some bio basics:
-I've been a wife for half my life, and we're parents of two teenage daughters.
-I work in education, mainly from home doing mostly curriculum and instruction for a small Christian school in California (title: accreditation coordinator).
-I taught humanities to junior high and some high school from about '97 to '99, before I had my daughters.
… [more]

Hello. My Ricochet name, sawatdeeka, is a Thai greeting that women use. Men would say, "sawatdeekap." So, sawatdeeka. Here are some bio basics:
-I've been a wife for half my life, and we're parents of two teenage daughters.
-I work in education, mainly from home doing mostly curriculum and instruction for a small Christian school in California (title: accreditation coordinator).
-I taught humanities to junior high and some high school from about '97 to '99, before I had my daughters.
… [more]

Hello. My Ricochet name, sawatdeeka, is a Thai greeting that women use. Men would say, "sawatdeekap." So, sawatdeeka. Here are some bio basics:
-I've been a wife for half my life, and we're parents of two teenage daughters.
-I work in education, mainly from home doing mostly curriculum and instruction for a small Christian school in California (title: accreditation coordinator).
-I taught humanities to junior high and some high school from about '97 to '99, before I had my daughters.
… [more]

The New York Times recently published an article that provides a glimpse into the microaggression movement currently infecting college campuses. The article profiles Sheree Marlowe, the chief diversity officer at Clark University, where she teaches incoming freshmen how to identify and avoid microaggressions. Here are a few tips Marlowe provided to the students attending one of her recent “training” sessions:

Don’t ask an Asian student you don’t know for help on your math homework.

Don’t say “you guys.” It could be interpreted as leaving out women.

Don’t randomly ask a black student if he plays basketball.

Don’t’ show surprise when a “feminine” woman says she is a lesbian.

Don’t say “Everyone can succeed in this society if they work hard enough.” (This is a microinvalidation.)

Marlowe knows her stuff. Just ask her. Or does she? Consider this exchange she had with a student:

Hello. My Ricochet name, sawatdeeka, is a Thai greeting that women use. Men would say, "sawatdeekap." So, sawatdeeka. Here are some bio basics:
-I've been a wife for half my life, and we're parents of two teenage daughters.
-I work in education, mainly from home doing mostly curriculum and instruction for a small Christian school in California (title: accreditation coordinator).
-I taught humanities to junior high and some high school from about '97 to '99, before I had my daughters.
… [more]

Hello. My Ricochet name, sawatdeeka, is a Thai greeting that women use. Men would say, "sawatdeekap." So, sawatdeeka. Here are some bio basics:
-I've been a wife for half my life, and we're parents of two teenage daughters.
-I work in education, mainly from home doing mostly curriculum and instruction for a small Christian school in California (title: accreditation coordinator).
-I taught humanities to junior high and some high school from about '97 to '99, before I had my daughters.
… [more]

Hello. My Ricochet name, sawatdeeka, is a Thai greeting that women use. Men would say, "sawatdeekap." So, sawatdeeka. Here are some bio basics:
-I've been a wife for half my life, and we're parents of two teenage daughters.
-I work in education, mainly from home doing mostly curriculum and instruction for a small Christian school in California (title: accreditation coordinator).
-I taught humanities to junior high and some high school from about '97 to '99, before I had my daughters.
… [more]